


Fears

by cautiousArdent



Series: Daily Challenges [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:10:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cautiousArdent/pseuds/cautiousArdent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl traveling with some friends is scared of heights. They have to go into a huge, tall tower. What will happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fears

**Author's Note:**

> Today's daily challenge! The prompt was "heights".
> 
> A short fic from my original story called "Game On!".
> 
> January 5, 2015

Nolene and her teammates approach a high, stone tower. It's riddled with vines and it looks quite old. They were told that treasure was inside of it, along with many monsters that would protect the tower. As Nolene looks up, she feels her knees buckle beneath her and she struggles to stand up.

"What's wrong, Nol? Afraid of heights?" Akihiko, one of the members of her group, asks in jest, nudging her with his elbow. She scowls and looks up at him, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I am. Got a problem with that, Aki?" She clenches her teeth. He just frowns at her and enters the tower. The rest of their team - but mostly Skylar, Seth, and Kristine - assures Nolene it will be fine as long as she stays by the walls. After a lot of coaxing, she agrees to go in, holding Skylar's hand for support. Skylar smiles timidly at her, ensuring her that she is safe with them.

As they all climb the tower and fight enemies, Nolene gets more and more anxious. Her hand grips Skylar's tighter as they ascend the stairs, and they look at her.

"Are you going to be okay? Do you want us to stop and rest?" they ask, obviously worried about her. Nolene looks up at them and bites her lip. After a moment of silence she shakes her head. She doesn't want to be a pain or make anyone angry at her. She stands up.

"I'm okay," she states as she squeezes Skylar's hand to ensure them that she was telling the truth. They squeeze her hand back and they both scale the stairs again.

Once everyone got outside on top of the tower, Nolene's knees finally give out on her and she sinks to the ground. Skylar catches her, worry in their eyes as they hold her and they put her on the ground softly. They let go, but stay by her side. She mumbles assurance to Skylar and the rest of her team and apologizes.

"Man, are you really _that_ scared over heights? Funny that the shortest person on our team is so scared of them!" Akihiko laughs and walks over towards her. Nolene shrinks back; if she was scared of anyone on her team besides their leader, Arik, it would be Akihiko. She scowls at him again. "Come on, you can't really be that scared," he says as he picks her up, holding her above his head. She kicks her feet and screams, surprised at what just happened.

"NO!! Put me down, Akihiko!" she yells and struggles more. She can see trees for miles, as well as tiny versions of monsters that are patrolling the woods and some tiny people at a campfire. She looks down at her teammates and her vision gets blurry before squeezing her eyes shut. She can hear Skylar, Piper, Kristine, and Hazel yelling at Akihiko to put her down as she starts to cry.

"Alright, alright, jeez," he says as he places her back down. She falls to the ground as Skylar and Kristine run to her, while Hazel and Piper both scold Akihiko. Skylar holds Nolene as she shivers and cries silently. Kristine puts a hand on her shoulder to console her.

"It's okay, it's alright, I'm here," Skylar whispers to her. Nolene stops crying after a few minutes and hugs Skylar back.

"You put her in danger! She's terrified of heights, and you lifted her off the ground on top of a huge-ass tower! How idiotic are you!?" Piper yells at Akihiko as he backs away.

"Yes. What if you dropped her?" Hazel asks, calmer than Piper, but still obviously angry with her brows furrowed and hands in fists.

"I'm-" Akihiko tries to explain himself, but is cut off by more scolding by the two girls.

"Akihiko. Come here," Arik commands, crossing his arms. He glares at the young man as he walks over to his leader.

"Yes, sir?" 

Arik tenses his jaw before speaking. "I was silent long enough. This should never have happened. Don't you dare ever put another one of your teammates in danger again."

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry," Akihiko replies, looking down.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. You have a phobia, too, am I correct?" Akihiko freezes at this, knowing full well what Arik's going to say. "Ophidiophobia?"

"Y-Yes," he mumbles.

"You would hate it if she took advantage of your fear, too. Think about that as you go to apologize to Nolene." Arik shoves his thumb in the direction of the girl in question.

"Yes." Akihiko walks away from their leader and pauses to think about what Arik just said. He would have been shaken up if she had put a bunch of fake snakes in his bed or if she shoved a snake in his face, and this finally gets through to him. She was scared stiff and didn't know what to do. She's incredibly frightened by heights and he just made it worse. He feels horrible now and walks over to her and kneels down. Skylar and Kristine let go of her when they notice Akihiko next to them.

"Aki," Nolene says, her voice strained.

"Nol," he pauses and looks away for a moment before looking back at her. "I'm sorry, Nol. I shouldn't have done that."

"You're just saying that because Arik wanted you to apologize to me," Nolene says as she wipes her eyes.

"No, I really am sorry, Nolene," Akihiko says. Nolene looks up at him, and his expression was like he just kicked a puppy. She smiles a little after a moment of letting it sink in that he was actually regretting what he did.

"I forgive you," she says as she sticks out her hand. Akihiko blinks at her, stunned, but it wasn't long until he took her and and shook it. He smiles a bit, too, as he stands up. Nolene stands up, as well, with the help of Skylar and Akihiko.

"We got what we came for, so we can leave," Seth announces to the rest of the team. Everyone helps guide Nolene down the stairs, talking amongst themselves as they descend, but Arik and Seth stay behind.

"I feel like I'm their babysitter," Arik states, once the others are out of earshot. Seth laughs lightly.

"I think you are."


End file.
